


teenagers

by ghostscribe



Series: 9,000 meters above sea level [6]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: Light Angst, M/M, guys being dudes, uh. whats better than this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 18:58:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15274137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostscribe/pseuds/ghostscribe
Summary: Maybe he’s been pining and never noticed it. Maybe he’s just at that age.





	teenagers

The wind is starting to pick up. 

Green has to admit, he did a pretty good job timing his ascent up here. The winds and storms of Mount Silver are known to change in half a heartbeat, that's for sure, but if it's only _just_ getting bad now, Green is willing to say he did a pretty nice job. The worst possible outcome would be getting stuck out here in a blizzard, but he's at most a few minutes away from the cavern where his idiot friend is living. 

Yes, Red, the Pokémon World Champion, that idiot is living on an inhospitable mountain. That's just what he's decided to do with his life at this point, and there's no convincing him otherwise. Green came up here two weeks prior, attempting to drag Red back down, but of course it was to absolutely no avail. As a professional fourteen year old, Green can confirm that reasoning with another fourteen year old is damn near impossible; bringing Red home is _really_ a wild goose chase, though. Red is impossibly stubborn, and being at this age isn't doing anyone any favors. 

It was genuinely devastating, having to come back, having found Red after two years, and having to tell his mom that no, Red is just going to stay up there. He and his gramps went back and forth on the matter for well over an hour, something about _you need to be more persuasive_ and _he was your responsibility._ When Red wants something, though, he wants it with all his heart and soul, so if he wants to live on a stupid mountain, that's just what he's going to do, no questions asked, no exceptions. There was another argument about whether or not to visit, bring supplies, something about enabling him, but Green would rather have Red _live_ on Mount Silver than _die_ on Mount Silver. He's been fearing Red's death since he ran away. 

Green sneaks into the crevice where Red's cavern is, breaking away huge hunks of ice that are trying to cover the opening. He needs a bit more room to bring this box in here. 

"Red!" Green shouts, but there's no answer. "Red?" No answer. He'd better still be in here. Green treks up to where Red was found last time, a cavern higher up, overlooking the mountain lake. It's lovely real estate, if you can ignore literally everything else about the area, such as freezing cold and no indoor plumbing. Red can survive without the latter (he and Green used to go camping when they were kids), but that doesn't really make it pleasant. 

"Red?"

He's unconscious on the floor. 

Green drops the box and runs over to him, kneeling at his side. Shit, shit, _shit_ if he was too late and Red is already dead he's never going to forgive himself, no one will forgive him, he's not even going to be able to live with the guilt, he'd rather - 

Red stirs and sits up, rubbing his eyes. Of course he was sleeping. That's all. 

"H-Hey. You're awake." Green awkwardly greets Red, who remains silent. "Glad to see you're still alive. Uh, I... I'm here."

A moment of quiet passes before Red speaks, and his voice is raspier and lighter than when he lived at home like a normal person. "Welcome back."

Green winces a bit at the noise; it sounds painful, and he's never going to get used to it. "Does your throat hurt?"

"A little. It's the cold."

"Well," Green half crawls across the floor to get the box, "lucky for you, I brought you some stuff to keep you warm, among... y'know, other things. Potions and food." Red looks blankly at the title on the box. 

"...Red's ‘don't die' box?"

"Yeah. So you don't die up here."

"...thank you." Red shuffles through the contents. Quite a lot of boxes of rice, a small pot and pan, blankets, pillows, twenty max potions and ten full heals, ten revives, a large bag of lum berries, some escape ropes... Green brought up quite a lot, yes. He doubts Red is going to go back down for any supplies any time soon. He'd rather "enable" Red to stay up here than let him stubbornly wait around just because he doesn't want to come home. 

Speaking of which, he should mention that, but his heart hurts too much from the last time that conversation went sour. 

"...Red, look," Green starts quickly, "I'm just gonna ask you again even thought we already talked about it: are you coming home soon?"

Red shakes his head. Green feels his heart drop nonetheless. 

"I miss you, though." Silence. Green huffs and stands up. "Fine. Well, uh, you have some stuff from me, now. I'm gonna go home before it gets too snowy to fly outta here."

Red's calm expression drops into a sad one. "Already?"

"Yeah. Maybe if you didn't live on a fucking mountain, I could stay longer."

"I wanna be safe." Red looks down. 

"I know." Pause. "But I'm not getting stuck up here. _I'm_ going home."

Silence. Green gets up and walks back toward the entrance. Red is so stupid, stupid, _stupid,_ he has to realize how worried everyone is about him, disappearing like that for two years, so why is he still up here? It'll be fine if he comes back down. Green can protect him the way he always has. He's not even in any danger, stupid Red, _stupid stupid stupid -_

Green reaches the opening in the mountain face to find that it is, in fact, no longer an opening. It's been completely iced over.

"Shit. Charizard, get out here." He releases the dragon into the cave, who roars unhappily at the cold. "I know, I know. Hey, use Flamethrower on this sheet of ice."

_"Zaaarr!"_ The almost overbearing heat from the flames on Green's cheeks is very welcomed. Somehow, though, the ice doesn't budge a bit. _"Charr!"_ Again, no headway. The third blast of fire is a bit weaker. Charizard looks at Green sheepishly. _"Charizard..."_

"One more try."

One more try does nothing. There's no other way out. Green is stuck. 

"Shit." He told everyone he'd be coming home as fast as he can! He doesn't want everyone to worry about _him,_ too! They're already worried enough about Red. Green doesn't want to cause any more commotion or any more dark fantasies of _how could this child have died_ back home. He can't exactly get out, though, and there's absolutely no reception on his Pokégear up here, so he's absolutely stuck. 

He resorts to kicking the ice and letting Charizard try to melt it one more time. No luck. 

"Shit!" He swears louder. This is awful. 

"What's wrong?"

Green isn't sure to be more relieved that Red is here or embarrassed that he's trapped. "This stupid ice sheet won't melt! What the hell?"

"Yeah, that happens sometimes," Red explains. "If you try to melt it, it turns to water that refreezes on the other side. It'll break down on its own in a day."

Green is more than disappointed that this is a waiting game, embarrassed that Red caught him in this position, but he's also a bit... almost infatuated by Red's voice, can he call it infatuation? It's somehow lighter than when he was a kid, and that bit of a rasp to it is almost... it almost suits him, in a way, a hideaway Champion with a mysterious voice. 

Fuck, what is he saying? He needs to stop that. 

Green kicks the ice again, more half-heartedly. No luck. 

"Well, I'm staying with you tonight. I brought up all that stuff for you so I deserve it."

"Not like I'd kick you out anyway. You're my best friend."

Green's heart skips a beat. Red still considers him his friend? That's so much more of a relief than Green thought it would be. He didn't even realize how worried he was about that. He had just thrown himself into working on research and Viridian's gym to avoid even thinking about Red. It hurts too much to dwell on. 

Green hikes back up to the cavern, where Red is continuing to shuffle through the "don't die" box Green concocted for him. The title was supposed to guilt Red into coming back down, but it almost came across as more of a joke than anything. Red is almost mindlessly digging through the contents, sorting them out into piles, potions and food and blankets. There's a heavy coat in there for him too, but knowing Red, he probably won't bother wearing it. He might even try to sell it for more supplies for his Pokémon, that idiot. 

"...so, uh," Green starts, but he really has nothing to say, "what do you think?"

"About?" Wow that voice is so...

"Uh... the stuff I brought up?"

"...thank you."

Good enough. Green sits cross-legged near Red, while Red crawls around the cave and sets up his new little camp. 

"How did you live here before this?"

"Hm?"

"I mean, did you have any supplies?"

"Yeah."

"...more than just Pokémon supplies?"

"Sorta."

"You don't even have a place to sleep, you know."

"Yeah."

Green sighs. This is getting him nowhere. 

"What's this?" Red is holding a box wrapped in shimmery red wrapping paper. 

"That's from your mom. She made you cookies."

"Oh." Something flickers in his eyes, something that Green hopes is guilt. "Tell her I said thank you."

"Yeah." Another pause. "What's wrong with you?"

Red doesn't look up, merely continues placing all his food items in one pile. "I don't know what you mean."

"I mean, you're totally stoic. What the hell, Red? You're never like this. Last time we - "

"I'm pensive."

Pensive, huh? "About what?"

"A lot of things."

"What things?"

"A lot."

"Red!"

Red almost screams, as much as he can while losing his voice. Now Green feels awful. 

"S-Sorry, sorry! I'm just worried about you when you say stuff and don't explain what you mean!"

_Holy shit Red is almost crying -_ "So-orr-y..."

"D-Don't cry, you - you don't have to say anything else, you're totally losing your voice, i-it's okay, it's alright..."

Red's breathing slows down, and the panic in his eyes melts. He nods softly and hides his face under the brim of his hat. He's motionless, now. 

"...uh, Red?" No answer, of course. "Do, um, do you want me to make you something to eat while I'm here?"

Red nods silently. Fuck. Seems like this is the rest of the night up here, huh? Green didn't think he was any harsher than usual with Red, though. Then again, it's been two years since they've seen each other and tried to have a normal interaction. Maybe that was just too startling...? 

Green glances over at Red, who's looking down, still a bit sad, but _god he's so cute -_

No. He can _not_ do this right now.

Green has to admit something kinda awful to himself; from about age eleven, he's had a bit of a... _thing_ for Red, he's not sure he could've called it a crush at the time. It isn't even the fact that they‘re best friends, or that Red was his _only_ friend for awhile, no, there's something else to it. It's something about how he and Red seem to click, complement each other, a loudmouth who charges ahead towards the championship and a silent hero who meanders his way to victory. It's something about this high energy and low energy they have that seems to blend so well with one another. It's the long nights they spent awake as kids (midnight was _very_ late back in the day), choreographing the battles they would imagine having against all the big names in the Indigo League, even fantasies that they could challenge the league in double battles and become champions together. 

Of course, that didn't work. He can still dream - and oh, does he dream. 

The other night, Green had dreamt about Red in a weird way. The dream was short, blurry, hazy and incoherent in the way that dreams are. He was on an island with Red in some faraway region, battling next to him, and the two of them were just... together. There was a moment when his hand felt hot, almost damp, and Red was - well, he woke up before anything else happened. Eevee was licking his hand to wake him up. 

Green sometimes likes to think about Red, though, make up his own little stories about Red coming home, being happy and healthy, and everything is just perfect again, and they're still best friends, and maybe they can travel through Johto together. Maybe they can search for this island in his dreams. They could curl up in front of a campfire and they could take on champions from all over the world, blowing everyone out of the water, and they could show everyone just what it means for the first and second ever champion to battle. It's ironic, really, that Red is only the second champion of the Indigo League, but everybody is after him. 

It's unfortunate, really, that Red is hiding here in part for that very reason. 

"Cooking?" _What are you cooking?_ , Red means to ask, but he can only use so many words sometimes. 

"Stir fry. You're gonna have to learn how to do this on your own one of these days."

"I know." Pause. "Learned."

"Oh?" Green looks at Red. "When'd you learn that?"

"Up here."

"Yeah, but when?" Red doesn't answer, and Green isn't about to press the matter again. "Well, either way, I'm glad."

"I like when you cook." 

"Thanks, I guess. I don't feel like I'm all that good at it yet."

"Better than." _Better than me._

"Yeah, ‘cause I bothered to learn before trying to live alone," Green pouts. 

"...cute."

He almost jumps out of his skin. "What?" Red points to Pikachu, who's cleaning his fur. Yeah, right, Pikachu is cute, not Green, the adorable electric mouse, that's what's cute, not his best friend, not Red _shut up Green -_

"Yeah, he's cute." Green glances back at Red. Why is Red staring at him, now? "You want something, or what?"

"...saffron."

"Like the city?"

"Spice."

"Saffron's like, P450 for one tiny bag, Red. That's not cheap." No answer. "Fine, I'll buy you some fuckin' saffron next time, whatever."

Red smiles a little. _What the fuck why is he so cute?_ Green blushes and turns back to the food that is almost done cooking. He just needs to focus on this, don't burn the stir fry, you wouldn't burn stir-fry for your best friend _or your husband whatthefuck -_

"Okay?"

"Yep! I'm fine!" The nervousness in Green's voice must override Red's distaste for yelling. He looks nonplused, at best; amused, at worst. 

The meal is consumed in relative silence. Green is considering just sneaking off into another cavern to avoid all these thoughts. Daisy warned him that sometimes you get overwhelmed by love the first time you find it, and he's "at that age," as she said, but this is awful. This is way too weird, because this is Red! This is his best friend! This isn't some cute girl who's coming in to challenge his gym! This isn't even one of the hot guys who works at the Pokémon lab! This is Red, _that_ Red, his best friend and rival Red, and not someone he should be pining for. 

So why is he like this?

"Thank you." Green is getting used to Red's voice. He snaps out of his thoughts and looks at Red. 

"For dinner?"

Red nods and looks away shyly. "And everything else."

When did he get this cute? "You're welcome."

"...sleepy."

"Yeah, me too."

How are they gonna do this with one - no, zero proper beds? Green brought up a pretty good pile of blankets for Red (that actually took up most of the space in the box), but only one actual pillow. They can probably... shit, what should they do?

Red doesn't seem to realize or care that there's a maximum occupancy issue here. He's setting up the blankets in the left corner of the cave. 

"So, uh..." Wow, okay, this should not be this awkward. They've slept in the same pillow fort before during their many sleepovers. This isn't that foreign. This isn't even something entirely new. Green just can't stop thinking about how weird he feels around Red right now and it's making everything difficult. 

"Sleeping?"

"Uh, yeah?" Red tries to wave Green over. "Wait, uh, what are... what do you...?"

Red almost glares at Green. "Are you sleeping in the nice blanket pile or on the ground? I don't care, but I'm going to sleep now."

"I might... stay up for a bit..."

"Then you're sleeping on the ground." Red lays down. 

"W-What? Hey! You can't just - " Red is quick to cut Green off. 

"If you get under the blankets, you'll wake me up, and I wanna sleep."

Oh. 

So this is how it's gonna be. 

"I... f-fine, move over."

Red scoots not far enough over for comfort, but far enough away that Green has space under the three blankets he brought up. It's not really a lot of warmth, but the cave itself is much better than outside, so this will have to do. It's more like a late autumn camping trip than a blizzard-ridden mountain hideaway. 

_Wait Red is hugging me what do I do fuckfuckfuck -_

"Tense," Red murmurs sleepily, sweetly in his light little voice. Green's heart is racing. 

"Yeah."

"...why?"

"No reason."

"Something is different."

Green jolts and looks at Red, noticing just how _close_ they are curled up under the sheets. "Wh-What do you mean?"

"About you."

"What... What's different about me?"

Red looks like he has an answer, but he seems to lose it somewhere along the line. "Dunno."

"Uh... Can you guess?"

Red is still holding this stoic expression he seems to have adopted, but there's this nervous glimmer in his eyes that Green can see from a mile away. "You got older."

"Yeah, and taller. When do you think you're gonna break 5'3", huh?"

"Shut up." _Fuck he's blushing that's so cute what the fuck -_

"Well, uh, I'm also a gym leader now, so there's that," Green adds, trying to distract himself more so than Red. Red looks surprised nonetheless. "What, you didn't know?"

"Never told me."

"You'd know if you came home."

Silence. Red actually takes his hat off _when did you get so cute -_

"I'm going to sleep."

"Sweet dreams, dork."

"You too."

And that's all Red leaves him with to try and fall asleep. 

Green forces himself to close his eyes. He's not about to stay awake and watch Red sleep, no. He might be smitten, but he's not a creep. When did this happen, though? When did he fall for his best friend? Maybe he is just getting to that age, but that's no excuse. If that were the case, wouldn't he have fallen for literally anyone else? Couldn't he have fallen for Crystal? She's a level-headed girl, a like-minded researcher, she holds her own in battle and she doesn't live on a fucking mountain. They've gotten to be very close, in fact. Why didn't he fall for her? Why Red? 

Perhaps the real question is more along the lines of _why not?_ There's no answer there. 

Red is breathing softly. He's dead asleep. 

Green is trying to rest, he really is, but he keeps drifting through these bizarre dreams. An island with Red, a battle against an electric bird, a brunette with a stutter and a lot of determination. That strange boy from Pallet called Fire, a dangerous look in his sister Leaf's eyes, something wrapping around his legs and dragging him underwater. Trapped in some slick goo, an amputated leg, windmills as far as the eye can see, an alarm clock with piercing eyes, ghosts swirling around him. An island with Red, a sunset too perfect for this world, discovering a new type of Pokémon beyond rhyme or reason. A date with Red, something hotter than lava on his hand, a bad taste in his mouth that stains his tongue purple. An island with Red, Red, Red's lips on his hands, something clawing at his hair, someone else's blood flowing quickly out of him and onto the snow, another missing person, heat, heat, heat - 

Green wakes up. He checks his Pokégear to find it's been six hours and it is now four in the morning. Good enough. 

Green tries to shake the dreams off, tries to even sit up, but Red‘s arm is still draped gently around him. 

_Why is he still hugging me?_

He could get up. He could push Red off delicately and get up and leave. He could even write a farewell note and get out before Red wakes up. He could get up and go whenever he wants. 

When else is he going to have this moment, though?

Green closes his eyes and just... lets this happen. This is fine. He can deal with this. They're both teenagers and it's a little weird to cuddle at this age, but this whole situation is a little weird anyway, right? This is fine. He can live with _he's pulling me closer -_

More accurately, Red has pulled himself closer to Green. Red's breath is hot on his neck. 

Again, Green closes his eyes and forces himself to relax. This is fine. He can leave tomorrow and never mention this again. 

Red is even closer. Maybe he's having a bad dream. He has this habit of clinging when he's scared, which both Green and Red's mom are very familiar with. He wouldn't be shocked to learn that Red has nightmares, but it's never happened before, as far as Green knows. Maybe this has happened at a sleepover, but he slept through it and never found out. That's entirely possible, right? Maybe - 

_Ohmygod -_

Red kisses Green's neck, and it takes every ounce of willpower not to whine or scream or react in some way. He... Fuck, is there any explanation for this? Why would Red kiss him? Can you kiss someone in your sleep? Is that even possible? Is Red even asleep? He's still peppering Green's neck with light little pecks and _fuck it I can't deal with this -_

"Red?"

Red actually screams this time and shoves himself away from Green. He's blushing more wildly than Green ever thought possible. 

"W-W-Wait, you're awake?" He sounds mortified.

"Y-Yeah, kinda! Th-That's why I just said something!" Red whines and hides his face in his hands. "What, um, what were you - "

"I-I dunno!"

Silence. There's no good way for either party to react to this situation. 

"Uh... so..." Green is wracking his brain for something, anything. "Did, um..." Red is offering nothing. "Have you ever... done that before?"

"N-No."

"Oh." Wow there is nothing that can make this situation any better. "Why did you - "

"Dunno."

Would... Yeah, maybe it would be bad to try and ask Red if he wanted something else. He's obviously in a very fragile state right now. Green could very easily shatter him like this. He knows how easy it is to hurt Red when he's upset - but is he upset? Is this the same thing as that? Green has rarely seen Red get this... embarrassed. Embarrassment isn't something Red displays very often, if at all. Between the two of them, Green gets flustered more easily, and that definitely doesn't happen very much as it is. Green can't say he's totally calm and collected here, of course, but comparatively, he's fine. Red is an absolute mess no matter who you compare him to right now. 

"Red?"

Red peers out from between his fingers, looking both guilty and... yes, cute, but there's some other look that Green can't place. 

"Did you, uh..." fuck this is gonna sound weird, "did you want something... from me?"

Red hides his face again. "No."

"...are you sure?"

"...no." That little whimper is irresistible. 

There's some weird boost of confidence Green has surging through him right now. Maybe it's adrenaline, or teenage hormones, maybe loneliness or pure desire. Whatever it is, some force compels Green to move towards Red, pull his rival close to him again so their noses are almost touching. 

"Red."

Green pulls Red's hands away from his face. He looks absolutely adorable. 

"Did you want something, Red?" His heart is thumping. He can feel Red's pulse racing. 

"Maybe."

Green leans in and kisses Red on the lips, soft and chaste and careful. Red's lips are chapped and he tastes a bit like sleep, but Green finds more heaven in this kiss than any fairytale romanticization of a first kiss. He doesn't even know if this is romantic, he doesn't know if there will ever be anything more than this, he just knows that this is good enough, this is perfect for this moment, and if he leaves tomorrow and Red is dead the next time he comes up here, he won't live the rest of his life regretting never having shown Red, even if in some tiny experimental gesture, how he really feels. 

He breaks the kiss off after about three seconds. Red grips Green by the collar of his jacket. 

"Again."

Again it is, four seconds. 

"Again."

Five. 

"Again."

And this time when he tries to pull away, Red keeps him in the kiss, holding Green by the back of his head, and he's absolutely not about to protest. This is fine, this is okay, this is absolutely _wonderful_ and the soft little hums Red is making sounds more eloquently orchestrated than any songs that any famous composer could ever dream up. Red's hand fists in Green's hair, Green trails his hand down Red's neck and he almost _moans_ and shivers at the touch, pulling Green as much closer as he possibly can. This is fine, this is wonderful, this is _perfect_ and this would be a good place to end his life if the cave were to suddenly collapse on them. 

When the moment finally ends, when the blizzard of kisses melts away, Green's watch on his Pokégear reads 4:39. 

"...sorry." Red speaks barely above a whisper. His face is still flushed. 

"It's okay."

Red starts to look nervous again. "I-I'm... gonna go start - "

Green yanks Red close to him, and Red yelps at the motion. "You're not going anywhere. It's still too late out to do anything and I doubt you got enough sleep."

"...right."

"So... um..." He's debating, but they've been making out for over half an hour, so Green kisses Red lightly one more time. "Sweet dreams. Again."

"You too. Again." Red doesn't try pulling away again before he shuts his eyes. 

Green doesn't remember falling asleep, and he doesn't really remember waking back up, but he remembers this departure somehow hurting worse than the one before.

**Author's Note:**

> hey it's 4:20am blaze it and also i was supposed to update my other fic but,,,,,,,,, i did this i guess yay  
> also known as my headcanon that Red and Green’s first kiss was actually well before they confess their love because that’s how badly these boys are pining, featuring some Classic Angst that you get when your best friend lives on a mountain and won’t come back down. bonus headcanon that Green swears a lot as a teen because Thats Just What Teens Do  
>  ~~and foreshadowing to their trip to Alola in Green’s dreams fjdhkdfj~~


End file.
